A carbohydrate exchange is a unit of measure created specifically for diabetics. Carbohydrate exchanges facilitate the estimation of meals in terms of their carbohydrate content and the dosing of insulin.
1 CARBOHYDRATE EXCHANGES REPRESENTS A PORTION OF A SPECIFIC PRODUCT IN GRAMS THAT PROVIDES 10 G OF DIGESTIBLE CARBOHYDRATES.
Using carbohydrate exchanges makes daily life with diabetes easier.
Example of how to calculate the number of carbohydrate exchanges consumed in daily diet?
If the daily requirement is set at 2000 kcal, then about 50% of this energy, which in this case is 1000 kcal, should come from carbohydrates.
- 1 G of CARBOHYDRATES provides 4 KCAL
- 1000 KCAL should come from 250 g of carbohydrates
- 10 G of CARBOHYDRATES is equivalent to 1 CARBOHYDRATE EXCHANGE
- 250 G of CARBOHYDRATES is equivalent to 25 CARBOHYDRATE EXCHANGES
The calculated amount of 25 carbohydrate exchanges is distributed among individual meals:
- I BREAKFAST – 5 WW
- II BREAKFAST – 3 WW
- DINNER – 10 WW
- TEA – 2 WW
- SUPPER – 4 WW
- SUPPER – 1 WW
Low glycemic index pasta has 2.54 carbohydrate exchanges*
* value calculated for 50 g of dry pasta its around 120g cooked pasta (suggested value of product consumption)
